When skydiver Joan Murray’s main parachute and backup parachute failed, she struck the ground at 130 kilometers per hour, landing on a mound of fire ants. Doctors believe that the shock of […]
Parachute Failed? Aim For an Ant Hill
Revenge of the Nerds
MIT students derive great pleasure from tormenting their rivals at Harvard. Our favorite prank of theirs occurred during the 1982 Harvard-Yale football game when a weather balloon emblazoned with the letters “MIT” […]
Racing The Cheese
For nearly 200 years competitors have gathered at Cooper’s Hill in Gloucester, England for the annual Cheese Rolling. Hordes of fearless contestants chase an 8-pound Double Gloucester cheese wheel down a steep […]
Like to Ski But Hate the Cold?
Monte Kaolino is a sand dune in Hirschau, Bavaria, Germany. It consists of 35,000,000 tonnes (34,000,000 long tons; 39,000,000 short tons) of sand, a by-product of kaolinite production over the years. The […]
Nice Catch, Ernest. Why Is That Fish Full of Holes?
Author Ernest Hemingway was an accomplished fisherman. He caught 7 marlins in one day — a world record at the time. Some of his techniques were not very sportsmanlike, however, such […]
Commonplace Fun Facts 